Ongoing transformations of conflicts in the EU’s wider Eastern neighbourhood pose a dual challenge for the EU’s policy towards the region. Partner countries increasingly expect the EU to act as a security provider, yet long-standing conflicts remain unresolved. Although the EU has provided substantial financial and military support to Ukraine and strengthened its own military capabilities, it has not established itself as a credible security actor for its member states or its neighbourhood. At the same time, the EU needs to rethink its security approach to make it more comprehensive and to integrate emerging dimensions of security.
Against this backdrop, InvigoratEU panel “A Security and Defence Dimension in the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood?” examined how the EU’s future relations with the accession trio, the Southern Caucasus and Central Asia are shaped by evolving understandings of security. Hosted by Julian Plottka and Florence Ertel, the panel analysed from different disciplinary perspectives, how these states — and the EU itself — conceptualise multidimensional security and explored whether a security and defence dimension is emerging in the EU’s Eastern neighbourhood
The panel took place in the framework of the XI World Congress of the International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICCEES) in London in July 2025.
More information on the conference: https://iccees.org/
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